Exodus
by Acacia Jules
Summary: REWRITTEN Miss Parker discovers some disturbing things about her baby 'brother' and Jarod, and goes on the run. MPJR
1. On The Run REWRITTEN

**Title:** Exodus Part I  
**Author:** Jules  
**Rating:** PG-15 for now  
**Disclaimer: **Obviously, I don't own any of the characters, no matter how much I WISH I did. They belong to the wonderful NBC and whomever own the rights to Pretender  
**Classification:** S, R, A  
**Spoilers:** I have no idea . . . um . . . after the third season at least! I kinda lost track of the years I've been watching!  
**Keywords:** MPJR  
**Summary: **Miss Parker discovers some disturbing things, and goes on the run.

**  
Exodus  
**_By Jules_

**_Part 1  
_****_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
_****_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_**

_Author's notes: I am taking MAJOR liberties here, concerning the Pretender storyline and such, mostly because I have a horrible memory, and can't remember some things! Sorry! But other wise, the reason is, __I make up my own rules here. That means, what I say goes. Why? Because it's **my** universe and I can do what ever I damn well please with it . . . thank you. LOL _

_And that is all there is, there isn't anymore. (I love Madeline, don't you?) LOL!_

**_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_**

**The Centre  
****Blue Cove, Delaware **

Miss Parker sat in her office alone, with the lights off, attempting to shut out the world. Her legs crossed, arms folded defensively, with one hand on her head, two fingers trying to relive the pressure in her temples as her mind struggled to process the life changing conversation she'd accidentally overhead.

How could it be true?

**_  
Flashback _**

**_Mr. Parker's Office  
_****_One hour prior _**

_"Lyle, make sure you don't screw this up. This information **MUST**_ _stay buried forever, do you hear me? Your sister can never know that the baby Brigitte gave birth to is really the son of she and Jarod." _

_"Of course Father. I'll take care of everyone who knows right away." Lyle promised, grinning evilly at the idea. _

_"I just wish that all the other embryos has been successfully implanted . . . That boy is ultimate pretender, and he will have been in our control since birth." _

_"Yes father . . ." _

**_End of Flashback _**

Miss Parker had been just about to walk in the door to update her father on her progress in her search for Jared, when she had heard the two men's exchange. Her self-preservation instincts forced her to hurry out of the area once she'd understood what her father had said. How could he have done that to his own daughter and his own grandson? How could he possibly even plan to treat his own family that way? They were nothing more than objects to her father, just the means to an end.

That was how she'd ended up sitting alone in her darkened office, contemplating the situation, for the past hour. She'd run scenarios through her head over and over, and finally knew what she had to do. Her only option. There was nothing keeping her at the Centre anymore. No more irrational attachment to her daddy, no more trying to win her freedom, it would have never happened. She saw that now. The Centre would have never simply let her go, even if she had managed to capture Jarod. No, it was over, it was time to escape, the timing was perfect, no one at the Centre would dream she'd run now, not with her 'freedom' just one capture away. Not with so many more family attachments, 'brothers'. It would be a completely unsuspected move.

But not without her son, her baby boy . . . no, she couldn't contemplate what that meant right then. There was too much to do. When they were safe, she would take the time to think about what all this meant, but now was a time for action. Resolute, Miss Parker stood up and strode out of her office. Her father would not be allowed to control her life and destroy any chance of her happiness anymore.

She walked determinedly down to the Centre nursery, never letting even a hint of the turmoil that raged beneath the surface to show. Parker was the Ice Queen. The Centre's peons jumped out of the deadly woman's way. She calmly removed the baby from his nurse's care, cautious not to give the impression of acting any differently towards him than she usually did.

"I'm taking him out for a walk." She coolly informed the nurse, not even sparing the woman a second look.

The nurse nodded complacently. This was a common occurrence when Ms. Parker would visit the boy. She devotedly came down several times a week to take her brother out and spend time with him whenever she wasn't out hunting for Jarod. The nurse thought it good for the child, so she eagerly allowed it without objection every time. The poor infant's father hardly _ever_ even came to visit his son for a few minutes at a time, and had never taken a walk with the little one.

Miss Parker gently put the baby in his carrier and walked out. As composedly as she could, the woman walked right out of the front doors of the Centre with their greatest creation, acting as if nothing in her world was wrong except for the idiots in her way.

She knew the possibility of bugs being in her clothes her, the baby's, in his carrier, and in her car were high, so she remained quiet, not allowing herself the pleasure of ranting . . . or even taking the opportunity to speak to her _son_ for the first time. She of course 'talked' to the baby before, but every 'chat' previously had been as a sister to a baby brother, trying to impart knowledge unto the baby on how to survive the Parker family. Which was why she said absolutely nothing at all. Not even to coo at her child. No, her first 'conversation' with her newly discovered son would not be tainted with the possibility that the bastards from the Centre could hear.

Parker strapped the carrier into her car, and immediately drove to the nearest baby store. She quickly stocked up on all the things she would need in the immediate future. It wasn't the time for shopping for the pleasure of spoiling her first child. She just got the necessities: bottles, formula, diapers, diaper wipes, clothes, bibs, soaps, blankets, a couple toys, a diaper bag, a new carrier and stroller (the carrier snapped into and off of the stroller), and other essentials.

The lady at the register gave Parker an odd look at the plethora of supplies the professional woman had filled her carts with. She frowned for a minute then an idea dawned on the cashier, "Fostering your first?"

Parker froze in shock, then cursing herself for making such a stupid mistake as to get all her supplies in the same store, of course it was going to look strange to be buying all these supplies at the same time. Most of the things would have been bought before the baby came, and from that point on things gotten as needed. Buying everything at once, including a second carrier, would look odd and suspicious. But the naïve cashier had inadvertently given Parker a way out.

"Yeah, it was totally unexpected. This should get us through a few days though, right?"

"Oh yes. You'll need to get more diapers pretty soon though. You'll go through those faster than you can imagine."

"Thanks." Parker smiled, as she struggled not to freak out at the close call.

After escaping the now accursed store Parker took several deep breaths to calm her racing nerves as a clerk helped her pack her car. Once she was left alone, Parker changed her son's clothes, dumped the old carrier, and then drove home.

Upon reaching her home, Parker raced into the house and to her bedroom. Placing the new carrier on her bed she rushed around and went about gathering her fake ID's, the large stores of cash and travelers checks, which were under a name the Centre had no idea existed. Hurriedly she packed up the only things she owned of sentimental value, mostly the few trinkets she had left of her mothers, and of course Don Juan, the bunny Jarod had given her, whom she put in his traveling cage.

Some years ago Parker had hidden a Jeep in a concealed cave nearby in the off chance something ever happened at the Centre that would have endangered her, which meant she had a form of transportation she knew wasn't bugged with listening or tracking devices. She transferred all the new purchases and her belongings into the vehicle then changed into the outfit she had hidden in there as well. Brown leather pants, a white shirt, a leather jacket and boots. Finally she pulled her hair up into a ponytail, because her son liked to pull hair.

Parker got choked up as she thought that, _her son_. _Her_ baby boy. For the first time in her life, she had someone who depended upon her completely and loved her unquestioningly. She had always wanted a child, someone to love unconditionally like her mother had her; but working at the Centre had made it impossible, that was the reason she'd attempted to quit in the first place, for a chance at a normal life. But her desire of ever having a normal life, with a husband and children had died along with Thomas . . . but now it was like she was being given a second chance.

Attentively she checked on the boy, making sure he was comfortable, she could only assume he was, as he was still soundly asleep as he had been since he'd nodded off on the way from the store. She then checked to make sure the carrier was safely secured in the backseat, then softly closed the door behind her and climbed into the driver's seat. As she shakily started the Jeep, one thought and one thought only raced through her brain, 'Have to get away. Have to get my baby and I far from the Centre. Have to get away . . . .'

**_  
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_Are these times contagious  
__I've never been this bored before  
__Is this the prize I've waited for?_

_Now as the hours passing  
__There's nothing left here to insure  
__I long to find the messenger _

**_xxxxxxxxx_**

Parker wasn't completely sure what she was doing anymore. She had been acting purely upon instinct since having overhead her father that morning. And instinct meant getting far, far, FAR away. As far as she could, somewhere they couldn't find her. Where they wouldn't find her son. Somewhere safe, where those bastards would never interfere with her life ever again.

**_  
xxxxxxxxx  
_**_  
Have I got a long way to run  
__Have I got a long way to run  
__Yeah, I run_

**_xxxxxxxxx_**

Lyle sat in his office, twirling a pen between his fingers, listening to the radio. Fervently praying in his heart, that there was something, anything, up there, that would hear him and could protect his sister and nephew right then.

He didn't believe in God, after the childhood he'd had, how could he? But right then, he was desperate, and he wasn't going to ignore any opportunity, it was better to be safe than sorry.

**_  
xxxxxxxxx_**

_Is there a cure among us?  
__From this processed sanity?  
__I weaken with each voice that sings_

**_xxxxxxxxx_**

Parker cagily drove further and further away. Checking her mirrors her every few minutes, making sure no one was following her, because she knew they would. They'd be coming soon.

She let the soft gurgles of the baby boy she'd never knew she had wash over her and fortify her determination.

**_  
xxxxxxxxx_**

_In this world of purchase  
__I'm gonna buy back memories  
__To awaken some old qualities_

_Have I got a long way to run  
__Have I got a long way to run  
__Yeah, I run  
__Yeah, I run_

**_xxxxxxxxx_**

Lyle had known the truth about the baby from the very beginning, that the child was his nephew, not his brother or even his son.

He had known that his twin was listening at the door during his 'discussion' with their father and that she would rescue the child from the life their amoral father had planned for it. How exactly he'd known she was there, he wasn't sure, he'd just always been able to sense when she was near.

But that fact of his existence wasn't important at the moment, all that matter was that his sister escaped this place. That she and her son managed to evade the evil that would soon be endeavoring to bring them back. And Lyle knew that if his twin was caught, she'd lose any allusion of freedom she'd been allowed previously. This time, she would be a Centre captive as well.

**_  
xxxxxxxxx_**

_Have I got a long way?  
__Have I got a long way?  
__Have I got a long way to run?  
__Have I got a long way to run?_

_Interlude _

**_xxxxxxxxx_**

Parker's stomach clenched as a bolt of fear rushed through her. She wasn't sure what had caused the heart-stopping dread to fill her soul all of a sudden . . .

**_  
xxxxxxxxx_**

_Yeah I run  
__(Have I got a long way to run?)  
__Yeah I run  
__(Have I got a long way to run?)  
__Yeah I run  
__(Have I got a long way to run?)  
__Yeah I run  
__(Have I got a long way to run?)_

**_xxxxxxxxx_**

Lyle looked out the window, gazing out over the horizon and wished his sister could know what he was thinking, '_Run Parker, run. The Centre knows you're gone, so move it. Stay safe sister and protect your son._'

**_xXx_**

Parker was driving in silence when the soft voice whispered in her mind, startling her. . . it was _LYLE_! Her mind raced as her thoughts tumbled together in her brain, and she realized, his behavior, it was all just a giant pretend. He wasn't the monster they all thought him to be . . . and that gave her hope. The Centre hadn't broken him . . . but the joy she felt over the knowledge that her brother was still sane, was dampened by the fear that accompanied the message. _They knew. _

**_  
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Please reply! Questions, comments, requests, or just tell me what ya think!

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	2. More Truths

**Title:** Exodus - Part II  
**Author:** Jules  
**Rating: **PG-15 for now  
**Disclaimer: **Obviously, I don't own any of the characters, no matter how much I WISH I did. They belong to the wonderful NBC and whomever own the rights to Pretender  
**Classification:** S, R, A  
**Spoilers:** I have no idea . . . um . . . after the third season at least! I kinda lost track of the years I've been watching!  
**Keywords:** MPJR  
**Summary: **Miss Parker discovers some disturbing things, and goes on the run.

**  
Exodus  
**_By Jules_

**_Part 2  
_****_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_**

Parker had drove in silence for a long, long time. The only sounds to break the tedium in the car was that of the infant's soft breathing while he slept and whilst he was awake, coos and baby giggles as he entertained himself with the few toys Parker had thought to purchase during her rushed trip to the baby store. She'd been very mindful of the fact that the fewer breaks she took, the further away from _them_ she could get. As a result, she only pulled over to fill the gas tank and in rest areas to feed the baby, change his diaper, use the rest room herself, and restock her snack supplies from the vending machines.

Finally, she stopped in a small town once the gas gauge was hit for a second time. As her adrenalin died away, exhaustion began hitting her, so she wisely resigned to get a room for the night after filling her tank at an all night service station. As she pulled out of the gas station in search of motel she noticed for the first time that it was after one a.m.

**  
InA Cheap Motel Room **

Parker lay down on the bed with her son, taking sighing with fatigue as she began to relax a bit for the first time since overhearing her father and twin. She lay there, so tired she couldn't sleep, and studied the baby, noticing for the first time how he had Jarod's smile and his eyes' shape, but they were same blue as her's.

She finally spoke for the first time in over a day, "Hey little man. I'm not sure if you know this already, because of how smart you are, but I'm your Mommy. If I'd known before today, I would have hauled you out of there the moment you were born . . ."

Baby Boy Parker, as he was known since Mr. Parker was "too busy" to name him, blew a spit bubble, then reached up and grabbed a lock of her dark hair which had fallen from the ponytail and grinned at her widely.

Parker felt a lump forming in her throat and promised the boy, her voice revealing the difficulty of speech at the moment, "I love you baby, sooo much. And I won't let anything or anyone ever hurt you, or ever take you away from me." A few tears managed to escape, but she quickly wiped them away, having been trained from a young age that emotions were weaknesses, and never to let anyone see any kind of weakness. Sniffling, she sat up and pulled the box of ID's out of her bag, clearing her throat, "Alright, now let's figure out who we're going to be . . . Melinda Jones? No. . . . Alana Peters? Nah . . . Oh, how about Mckenzie James? Mckenzie is what my mother really wanted to name me, but my father insisted upon naming me Margaret, but in secret she called me Mckenzie. Your Daddy, Jarod did too. As for you, little man . . . it's time you had a name. I'm going to name you Thomas Kyle Russell, after the most wonderful man I ever had the pleasure of knowing next to your daddy, and your Uncle. The Centre killed them both, but they'll never be forgotten. But the Centre might think to look for a Russell, so for now you'll be Thomas Kyle James. Do you like that name?"

Parker wasn't sure whether she was imagining it or not, but it seemed to her as if Thomas nodded! Parker blinked several times and then rubbed her eyes. Exhaustion was affecting her judgement, she needed sleep. Lying back down, she watched as her son played with his feet, her eyes growing heavier and heavier.

Soon both mother and son had fallen asleep, free from the Centre's clutches for the first time in their lives.

**_

* * *

_**

**  
The Centre **

Sydney and Broots' were in shock. The poor men had come in for work that day, only to be told that Miss Parker, had been kidnapped along with her baby brother, while the two were out on a walk.

Neither could believe it, because this was Miss Parker they were talking about. Shoot first, ask questions later Parker, who never went anywhere without _at least_ three guns concealed upon her person. So to them, it was a situation that seemed completely and utterly inconceivable. Both were sitting in her office, utterly bewildered as to how this could have happened, when Sam, her personal sweeper, slipped into the office.

"Dr. Greene, I need to speak with you and Broots," His eyes darted about nervously, "somewhere private." Sam handed him a note, then hastily left, terrified he'd be caught talking to the two.

Sydney hastily opened the folded piece of paper, and read the instructions,

_Meet me on SL-27 in one hour.  
__Where we can speak without  
__prying eyes or ears.  
__It's about Miss Parker's disappearance. _

_-S _

Sidney raised an eyebrow, taking note of Sam's usage of the word disappearence instead of kidnapping. He handed the note to Broots to read and once the small man had glanced it over, Sydney burned the note with a lighter from Miss Parker's desk.

**  
One hour later  
****SL-27 **

Sydney and Broots easily found Sam on the burned out level, agitatedly pacing back and forth.

"Good you're here." Sam sighed with relief that it was just Sydney and Broots, and that it hadn't been someone sent to silence him. Then hastily got to the point, "I don't have much time until they miss me. Miss Parker is in **_big_** trouble. They think she's taken off with baby. I mean as in _left_ The Centre with him. She doesn't have permission to even take him off grounds, let alone off grounds _overnight_. I managed to get on the sweeper team that searched her house. Her car was empty and the house was deserted. At first glance, it seemed as though nothing's missing, but I checked the closet, after I made sure no one was watching. The white box she stored all her keepsakes in was gone and the extra gun she keeps in a secret compartment in her drawer with the extra handcuff's were missing."

"I don't want to sound unappreciative, but how on earth did _you_ know about those things?" Sydney questioned, suspicious of the man.

Sam surprised both Sydney and Broots by blushing, "When Miss Parker was still a sweeper, we were in a relationship for several months. Her father found out and promoted her to corporate. That's why I'm still a sweeper after all these years, I can't get promoted, on Mr. Parker's orders. Parker knew we couldn't keep seeing each other, or I'd get hurt, probably killed, so she broke it off. She had be transferred to be her personal sweeper to protect me, make sure I didn't experience any _accidents_ on the job. . . I'd die to protect her."

Sydney cocked his head knowingly, "You're still in love with her, aren't you?"

There was no point in lying now, so Sam shrugged sheepishly, "How could I not be? She's just so amazing. So strong on the outside, but a frightened little girl on the inside. It also makes you want to protect her."

Sydney nodded in agreement and sympathy, as Sam went on.

"I don't delude myself into thinking that I'm anything more than her secret friend, a big brother to her in a way . . . because I know she never loved me like I love her. I mean, how could she, when Jarod captured her heart so long ago."

Broots' jaw dropped open in shock, but Sydney smiled, "So you know it too."

"Only people she cares about can trigger such strong emotional reactions from her. I don't know how he did it, but he managed to get past all the walls she has so carefully and securely built around her heart."

"I know." Sydney looked around, "We'd better go, they'll notice our disappearance soon and they'll start to look for us as well."

"Right."

"Keep me informed, please . . . she's like a daughter to me."

"I understand." The sweeper's eyes softened, "And if she contacts you, tell her I'm watching her back from here and I'll try to deter the search from behind the scenes."

"I will." Sydney shook Sam's hand, and then pulled the dazed Broots along behind him back to Miss Parker's office.

**_

* * *

_**

**  
An unknown location **

Jarod leaned back in a chair, popped a PEZ into his mouth and grinned as he waited while the phone rang on the other end of his cell phone. It was time to have some fun.

"_Hello?" An accented voice answered._

Jarod sat up strait in his chair, that wasn't the right voice! "Sydney!"

_Sydney sighed disappointedly, "Oh, hello Jarod."_

"Sydney, why are you answering Miss Parker's phone? What happened?" Jarod had a sinking feeling in his stomach and a sense of dread washed over him.

"_Miss Parker seems to have vanished, along with her baby brother. I was hoping you wore her. Inquiries are being made and the search for you has been placed on the back burner, and one for her and the baby is front and center."_

"Have they been kidnapped?" Jarod asked terrified.

"_That is what Broots and I were led to believe, but an inside source advised us differently. They say that the investigation is focused solely upon the belief that Miss Parker has taken flight, with the child. Their orders are to bring them in as quickly as possible."_

"Why would Miss Parker run from the Centre with the baby?"

"_That is the question on every one's mind, but only Miss Parker, and I'm guessing whomever ordered the hunt, knows the answer to._"

Then Sydney hung up, leaving Jarod bewildered.

Jarod stared at the phone in his hand for a minute, then pushed off in his desk chair over to the laptop which sat on a table in his new house, as he was in-between Pretends, he'd thought it a good idea to invest in a dwelling for such times. Though if he were to really be honest with himself, it was more so that he would have a place he could call home.

He quickly hacked into the Centre computers, but he was unable to find anything other than what Sydney had told him, other than confirming the fact that all out search was on for Margaret and Baby Boy Parker.

Jarod leaned back in his chair and sighed, for once, he had no idea what to do, the one thing that kept him from going crazy from missing Miss Parker incessantly, was knowing where she was at all times. And now he had no idea where she was or even if she was alright.

**_

* * *

_**

**One week later **

Lyle drove home to his penthouse from the Centre. From there he went to the roof, down the emergency stairs, to a second car, then truly drove home, where his wife Ling, of eight years, was waiting for him with Kelley, their 3-year-old son.

He'd met Ling ten years ago and it was she who had saved him from being the man Raines had trained him to be. She was one of the children his mother Catherine had managed to save from The Centre before her death. She'd sensed his connection with the woman who had saved her, because she had an inner sense as well.

It had taken awhile for her to convince Lyle to trust her, but eventually, with time and persistence, he did. But it still had taken her over a year to overcome all the suggestions and training Raines had put Lyle through. Lyle still continued to suffer nightmares to that day about the things he'd done and that had been done to him.

Lyle had kept this part of his life a secret from Raines, knowing what the man could do to them. He'd had to Pretend to be a horrible, cold hearted, unfeeling person with no conscious for so many years.

The moment he'd started at The Centre, he'd felt a connection with Miss Parker, which he obviously couldn't acknowledge due to the circumstances. The discovery that she was actually his twin hadn't come as a complete surprise to him, or Ling, as it had been for poor Parker.

Lyle knew the Centre was evil, it had killed his mother, nearly destroyed him, and then he'd been forced to watch as it destroyed his sister.

He'd played Bridget, trying to get the inside track and with her power-hungry ways, it was no big shock when she'd married his scumbag father. And he'd suspected something was up the moment she came out with her pregnancy. But that his father would do what he'd done to his own daughter . . . it made Lyle sick.

The only problem with his Pretend was that he'd Pretended so well, he'd made his own twin sister hate him, maybe even fear him. The glove he wore hid the fact that he still had his thumb, because no one would have believed that he'd gotten off scot-free from Tommy Tanaka. Luckily, Ling Tanaka-Bowmen had found out and saved her husband's ass from _her_ twin brother.

The Tanaka's _truly_ hated the Centre, because of the kidnapping of their precious Ling and were forever in dept to Catherine Parker, and her children. Tommy's past involvement with her daughter and Ling's unexpected marriage to her son had been a unexpected turn of events for all involved.

Business was kept away from family, and Lyle's pretending to cheat them was pardoned once he'd explained what was going on. They'd even made him the glove that he wore to make it look as though he'd lost his thumb.

Lyle's car pulled into the driveway of a very large, heavily secured house, deep in the woods outside of Blue Cove. Right under the Centre's noses.

A tiny boy shot out of the door and ran towards Lyle as fast as his little legs could carry him. Lyle barely had time to bend down and scoop him up . . . .

**  
SLAM**

Lyle leaned the door of his car and swallowed the lump in his throat. That was the joyful greeting he used to get almost every night when he'd come from work. Until a year ago, when Raines' had taken Kelley. He used the boy to make sure Lyle kept on track with his torments of he sister. In the back of his mind, Lyle even now a year later somehow expected Kelley to scamper out and greet him, but his son never did.

Lyle took a deep breath, pushing back the heart wrenching thoughts and slowly went into his home. Ling was just setting dinner on the table.

"I'm home." He announced, thankful to see his wife, seeing her always eased the agony of the loss of their son. Her being there when he got home was what kept him going through the day.

"Ahh, about time you arrived husband. I have some pleasing news." She informed him, looking up and smiling at her husband.

"What?" Lyle questioned, giving her a kiss.

"I'm with child!"

Lyle froze, "You're what!"

"In eight months, you are going to be a father once more." She told him, filled with joy.

"Oh God." Lyle fell down heavily in a chair in distress, scenarios of what Mr. Raines might do with this information running through his head.

"What is wrong?" Ling kneeled next to her husband, "Does this news not make you pleased?"

Lyle closed his eyes, then took her hands into his, "Ling, of course I'm happy that you're having a child, our child, once more. It's just . . . if Raines were to find out . . . . I would go crazy if anything happened to you."

Ling nodded her head in understanding, "I know, which is why Raines will not find out that we are expecting once more. My brother has already tripled security around the house and the guards have orders to shoot on sight if anyone who is not cleared tries to enter. What happened before will not happen again."

Lyle brought Ling's hands up to his lips and kissed each palm, "You're right, it won't. This time, our child will be safe. And I promise you, I will get Kelley back from Raines, then I will destroy that man, and my father, for what they have done to my family."

"I am sure you will. And you have the Tanaka family's full backing." A new voice suddenly proclaimed, startling the lovers.

The two turned to see Tommy Tanaka, standing in the doorway, looking completely serious.

**_

* * *

_**

**A park **

Parker surrounded herself with all the things Jarod had given her over the years, not quite sure she knew what she was doing. She also had PEZ, Twinkies, and Curious George books all around her as well. Immersing herself in all that was Jarod.

Soon, she began to crave junk food and saw the world in "black and white". Things that Jarod and Sydney had done with each other ran through her mind, growing up in the Centre, meeting her, escaping. The noble obligation to help those who required it and punish wrongdoers filled her.

Parker started pacing and popping PEZ. The undeniable need for a place to call home came to her . . . and then, the place of where "home" would be.

Parker took another PEZ out of her Pebbles dispenser with her teeth and then grinned, knowing exactly where to go.

**  
One day later  
****San Diego, California  
****5:30 am **

The sun was just beginning to rise, it was not even peaking over the horizon, but the stars were beginning to disappear, and to the east, the sky was a purple unhurriedly reddening, as Parker pulled into the driveway of a very large home on the beach of the Pacific Ocean.

She picked the lock on the door and by the look of the silver DSA case on the living room table in the other room, she knew she was in the right place.

**_

* * *

_**

**A little later **

Jarod awoke to the foreign smell of bacon and eggs being cooked. He sat up straight in bed, grabbed his tank top, pulling it on, and cautiously went downstairs, where a scene that he had never expected to ever see, let alone observe in his own kitchen, greeted him.

Miss Parker was leaning over a baby, holding it's hands and talking in a extraordinary tone of voice, "What's Thomas doin'? What's Momma's little man doin' chewin' on his hands? Are they tasty? Do they taste good?"

The baby kicked his feet and gurgled. The microwave going off pulled her away. She pulled the bacon out of the microwave with a potholder.

"Good morning Jarod. It's about time you woke up. Sit down. I just finished making breakfast. No more Twinkies and Hagen Daz for breakfast anymore. Do you have any idea how bad that is for you?" With tongs she put the sizzling back on a plate covered with paper towel and turned around, "Sit down Jarod! And I'll explain what Thomas and I are doing here. And what the hell is going on." She handed him the plate of bacon, "Put that on the table."

Jarod dazedly walked over to the pre-set table and sat down, numbly placing the back between the two empty plates.

Parker picked up Thomas in his carrier, set him on the table next to her, and played with him, not wanting to look at Jarod. She knew if she did, she might lose the cool exterior she was displaying.

Jarod made himself a plate and began shoveling in food. He grinned after the first bite, "Hey, this is actually good!" Then he started shoveling mouthful after mouthful down, washing it down with the glass of apple juice Parker had set out earlier.

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Please, I want replies, and I want tons of them (at least 6 of them) or I won't continue. I know it sounds pathetic, but I live for feedback, good or bad!

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